I have been conversing with a friend about theology. I find this a deeply interesting topic. Here, in the UK, we have a pleasant if slightly mundane secular society. We have a stereotypical bell-curve when it comes to belief and disbelief with the majority of Theists and Atheists sitting roughly in the middle and not really caring about what other people believe or disbelieve. We coexist with many Atheists just assuming that the person sitting next to them is Atheist and the Theists just assuming that the person sitting next to them is Theist. When the conversation comes up and you find that the person holds a different belief or disbelief, the response is "Oh, really? That's surprising." and people generally get back to what they were doing.
I think that I should also point out that I do not go hunting Theists, attacking their beliefs. Like most of my interactions with my fellow man, I let others come to me and they have come to me in droves to the point where, although not expert, I am experienced in holding my own in a rational debate or discourse. Some things I have noticed in common when discussing Theology is the use of logical fallacies by Theists. Now, it also has to be said that it is possible to come to the right answer but through the wrong way when a logical fallacy is employed but I think I will do a completely different post on these fallacies.
This is a selection of my books. There is so much more I would like to read but these have given me a good foundation to the beliefs of others and I have also got some e-books such as three translations of the Quran and the Old Testament. This generally gives me an unfair advantage when discussing Theology with those that have not studied different positions. Whilst science is constantly discovering new things about the universe in which we live, religion has been putting out the same arguments for the last 2000 years and there are those, far more eloquent than me, that have answered and debunked these arguments to the Nth degree and it is upon the backs of those giants that I further my understanding.
Now, if you got this far, well done, I will now explain my Atheism. I was born an Atheist. I came into the world feet first causing much unnecessary stress to everyone involved. My mother had always identified as Christian/Church of England but she was kind enough to not force her beliefs on me or my siblings. I don't remember a whole lot until I was around 6 or 7 years old. A few tattered and frayed memories, favourite toys, favourite friends but nothing really significant. I was taught at school about evolution but it was not titled such, it was just an understanding that we, as a species, had come from other species before us and it really was no more interesting than that.
It was at one time, when I was playing with friends that lived just a few doors down the road from my home that they informed me that we had come from Adam and Eve and I was first introduced to the creation story from the Bible. This was in direct conflict with what I had been taught about the origin of species and when I questioned this I was faced with "Oh, so you believe in Evilution" (Yes, that was how they pronounced it) and when I asked what "Evilution" was they explained it and my response was "Well, yes, I suppose I do."
I have to express my gratitude to my mother for her most important gift to me, critical thinking skills. I was told to question everything. With this skill, she effectively inoculated me against religion. My BS meter became finely tuned. At an early age I read the Bible OT and NT cover to cover and this solidified my Atheism (This was the 80's and I didn't know there were other Gods or religions) My only exposure to religion was my friends who were Christian, my mother's friends who were Jehovah's Witnesses and the News which showed graphically what religion can do. My mother had taught me to ask questions but those around me would eventually resort to answering my questions with "Shut up Cy."
In summary, I was born an Atheist and I never became religious. I have never had a belief in a God. I have yet to hear a convincing reason to believe that there is a God. I am not angry at God because I do not believe that it exists. I do not "Just want to sin" because I do not believe in sin either. I do not need faith to not be convinced that there is a God because my Atheism has taken zero effort.
I think I will do further posts explaining how I have developed and putting into my own words why the challenges against Atheism are so poor and in many cases pointless.
